Love is Real
by writeme99
Summary: When Sonny hears that Chad doesn't believe in love, she sets out to change his mind. Oneshot.


"Munroe! You're late!" Marshall barked from his place at the podium at the front of the conference room.

Sonny blushed as she speed-walked to the front of the room, straightening out her blue dress. "Sorry Marshall—I just had a new idea for a sketch and it's about this purple alien that comes to Earth and nobody believes that-"

Marshall stopped her. "Save it for now, kid. Just take a seat at the back over there," he waved towards the last seat open. Sonny glanced at the seat and groaned. The last one was next to the one and only Chad Dylan Cooper. "Hurry, miss Munroe!"

She huffed and took her seat, sitting as far away from Chad as she could without moving her chair. "Cooper."

"Munroe."

"Anyway," Marshall began. "For our monthly conference, we're going to give a couple acting lessons, and you'll watch part of a movie, just to improve the shows a bit," he gave a small smile and switched on the projector and started the slide show.

"No improvement needed here," Chad grumbled under his breath. He didn't really know why he needed to be there, since Mackenzie Falls was already so good.

Sonny gave him a disgusted look and snorted. "There's always room for improvement."

"And I'm always the exception," he reminded her. She remembered the fake prom, in which he had explained his need to always surprise people.

Sonny rolled her eyes and ignored his comment. Marshall went on to explain dramatic acting, where Chad grinned cockily the entire time, then comedic acting, and Sonny sat up a little straighter. Then came romantic acting, during which both slumped down in their seats. "Now, the key is believing its real," Marshall instructed. "Take the Titanic, for instance," he played a clip of the famous movie.

Sonny sighed dreamily at the sight of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet together. "They're so cute," she sighed to herself.

Chad snorted. "Cheesy," he mumbled.

"Excuse me? Romance and love are the most beautiful things someone can find," Sonny whisper-snapped.

"I don't believe that," he glanced at her and ran his hands through his luscious blonde locks. Sonny was about to protest, but he shushed her quietly. "Pay attention."

For the rest of the conference, Chad's statement bothered her. How could he not believe in something so real? She made up her mind to ask him later. When the meeting was over, she rushed to catch up with him as he walked out. "Wait!" She fell into step with him. "Wait."

He looked at her expectantly. "Uh…yeah?"

"Um, I just was thinking about what you said," she said carefully, and stopped walking. "Do you really not believe in love?"

He stopped too, and gazed at her for a moment. "Yeah, I don't. You stupid little romantics are just living in oblivious bliss if you think that true love crap is real," he said bitterly.

"No, we're not. Why do you think so?" she met his eyes defiantly.

"Because stuff like that doesn't happen. This is real life, Sonny," he rolled his eyes. "Not some cheesy romantic comedy."

Sonny took a moment to absorb his words. She furrowed her brow and thought for a minute. He couldn't be born thinking like this…something must have happened. "Aww, did little Chadikins get dumped by some girl that broke his heart?"

Chad raised an eyebrow. "You're being stupid, Sonny."

"So I'm right?" she shot back.

He took a deep breath. The hall was completely empty now, and silence surrounded them. "Well, not exactly. But a lot of people just try to get to me because I'm famous," he rolled his eyes again. "They don't like me for me."

"I don't see who would," Sonny said promptly. "So none of them were good enough for you?"

Chad chuckled. "Yeah. But we also weren't alike at all," he added.

"You don't have to be alike. Haven't you heard that phrase 'opposites attract'?" Sonny reminded him. Her breath stopped for a millisecond when's he realized that she and him were opposites, too. But that was just too much of a difference, anyway, she told herself.

He stared at her, wondering what she meant. "Well….yeah, but sometimes you're so different that you don't get along."

Sonny thought about what he said. Was he talking about the other stupid girls or…her? "There's always ways around that," she insisted quietly. What was she protesting for?

"You can't like someone you don't even get along with," he laughed bitterly. He looked at her uncertainly.

She lowered her eyes. "How do you know?" Chad sighed. He hated that question. Couldn't people just accept that he knew everything?

"Look," he began. He didn't know what to say. "It doesn't matter, anyway. There's no point to it if there's no such thing, remember?"

"I think Chad Dylan Cooper is just afraid of getting hurt," she went back to teasing mode. It was easier; something about talking like that with Chad made her stomach do funny squirms.

"I am not _afraid_, of anything," Chad spat.

"Then admit it," Sonny challenged. "You don't want to believe in love because you're sick of getting hurt."

He didn't say anything, simply gazed at her defiantly.

She waited. "I'm not afraid," he said suddenly. "Just I wouldn't want to put myself out there if the other person isn't willing to. I don't want to do something stupid. Stupid doesn't look good on Chad Dylan Cooper," he winked.

Sonny rolled her eyes. He was back. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and spoke up. "So what if there was someone who was willing to put themselves out there?"

"Like who? Some pathetic romantic like you?" he scoffed. He saw the hurt that flashed in her eyes on his last word.

"You're saying I'm not worth dating?" she shot back angrily.

He didn't answer. "Well, I don't know, but you with someone like me….wouldn't work at all," Chad pointed out.

"How do you know?" Chad groaned silently. Again with that question.

Sonny continued. "I mean, we might have made a great couple, and there is that opposites attract thing and you're just throwing it out the window-" she babbled on, and Chad thought about her words. She was right, in some respects—they could have made a good pair, and even though sometimes he couldn't stand her, other times…he couldn't stand not being with her. Wasn't that some people's definitions of love? That you can't be without the other person? Did that mean that he loved Sonny? Of course not. He could be without her. He could live without her.

He glanced at her, still talking at high-speed, eyes lit up with fire, hands waving in an attempt to make him see her point. But how he loved to hear her talk, loved to keep an argument going just to hear the smart, clever responses she came up with that always surprised him. He tried to think back to a time when she wasn't there. He couldn't remember his life being as interesting as it was now.

"And just because you're some big hotshot –actually, you just think you are— and I'm on a different show, that doesn't mean that I'm not good enough-" On an impulse, he grabbed her face and stopped her lips with his. She protested at first, but he held her close to him and she gradually kissed him back. Her hands found their way to his chest, and he wrapped his around her waist.

He pulled away after a few moments, grinning cockily at her. "Yeah. It just might be able to work."


End file.
